Hey, Kevin. It's Creative Loafing. 

Creative Loafing caught up with author Kevin Keck and grilled him about his new book, family and what he really thinks about Charlotte:

Creative Loafing: So, this latest work -- Are You There God? It's Me Kevin. -- is your second book?

Kevin Keck: Technically third. My very first was a book of poems, but that really doesn't even count because nobody reads that. But yeah, this is my second book of prose.

Well, how does this book of prose differ from your first -- Oedipus Wrecked?

Probably just on the surface it's a lot less writing about sex, ya know? That's the main thing: Oedipus Wrecked was nothing but sex stories. I was kind of wanting to move away from that. And -- in fact -- some of the stuff that's in this book was originally supposed to be the last two chapters of Oedipus Wrecked. But I had a different publisher then and they didn't want those two chapters. They were like, "No, no. The tone is way, way off." You know, in terms of the other stuff it was coupled with. So I was kind of left with those two chapters, and I knew I wanted to do something with them. And I didn't have an agent at that time, and I basically knew that if I wanted to get more money the next time around I was going to have to have an agent. So what I sent out as my sort of sample work to try to get an agent is what ultimately became this book.

Many of the stories in the book take place in North Carolina and much of the book takes place in Charlotte. I noticed that you even made some kind of commentary about bankers and the way they live. How do you see the city and the people in it?

You know, I have to say at the outset that before I become too critical, I really love [Charlotte] and hate the fact that I'm not directly living in the city now like I was.

Where are you living now?

I'm just up Highway 16 in Denver. I was living on Clement Avenue there just off Seventh Avenue. How do I see Charlotte? When I was writing the book, I was sort of trying to think about the conflict between the fact that Charlotte can represent something very important about the 20th century because, if I have my facts straight, I think we are the only city in the United States that's within 50 miles of two nuclear plants. I may be mistaken on that, but I think that's right. You know, I grew up out in the country, what is now the suburbs of Charlotte, what was once farmland and was totally decimated the building of this great triumph of the 20th century -- smashing atoms for the power. But how do I see it? You know, it's new money down there. I try to make all the really fucked-up stuff [in the book] happen in Charlotte. There are occasionally some things that happen down here with the home life, but I purposely wanted to keep all the decadent behavior happening in the city. When I moved back here in 2000 that's what blew my mind ... that my perception of what the city was and what I started finding out once I started hanging around people who have banking jobs and whatnot; man there are some decadent, decadent people. I often feel like in Charlotte they're trying to purchase a cultural history instead of letting one evolve. Atlanta is a city with cultural history; you just feel it when you're there. When you're here, you know, it just feels like they're putting the stuff in place for things to happen, but they don't realize you gotta let it percolate.

You placed a disclaimer in the front of the book that states: "... in the interest of protecting the privacy of various individuals I have changed the names of those involved." But when people read the book, do you think they know it's them? I mean, other than your family?

People that I still talk to, that I'm friendly with, they know it's them. And I have no doubt that the people who I'm talking about are going to know who I'm talking about. And I didn't change any names originally. I left them as [they were]; it was a lawyer who made me change them.

Yeah?

I thought it'd be cool for people to see their name in a book. I changed the names of a few [people] in the book -- like the ex-girlfriend and stuff. Because I figured if you knew me, you were going to be able to identify them anyway. But the lawyer said, "No, no, no, no."

When the events of this book took place you were single, but you're married now and you have a few children, right?

I have three children. I have the stepson that was from my wife's first marriage and then we have the twins that are almost 18 months old.

So, when your children get old enough to read these books, what do you hope they take from your experiences, and how do you hope that helps to shape the way they look at you?

Man that's a good question. I've been worrying about that! Yeah they have to make the judgment that I'm a human being, and human beings are complicated; they have, you know, competing and conflicting desires. And just because, you know, I love to smoke pot and go to a show and have a good time, that stuff doesn't necessarily negate me being a responsible parent or anything like that. That's what I want them to take away, the complexity of human beings, because I didn't really get that from my folks. My dad has always been really good at concealing his previous existence prior to my arrival on the scene. I know very little about my dad and then when I talk to people, I always get these little glimpses of like, "Oh man, your dad was off the hook!" That's not the guy I get. So it kind of creates a little schism in my mind having to reconcile that.

Does writing about your family and having them read your work improve your relationship -- especially when it comes to your father?

I think with my dad, yes. I gave him a copy, and he sort of made note of the fact that he didn't realize that I was feeling however I was feeling at that particular time in my life -- and that his perception of it was completely different. My mom gets really hung up on how I portray her whenever I write about her. And you know, of course, whenever you write about people, you're picking those little attributes that kind of stand out, so you never really get the full picture of anybody. So my mom gets hung up on that, she starts arguing points of fact with me. And my brother reads the books and says, "You know, that was good" and that's about it. Doesn't say much more than that.

I would think he'd have the bigger reaction since you write about him so much in the book.

He's just kind of an emotional blank. I don't get him. He was in town over 10 days [this past] Christmas and he was staying 40 feet from me the whole time, and I don't think we really saw each other that much. I wish we had a closer relationship, but it's just one of those things where I marvel at the variety of genetic differences that come from the same two couplings of DNA. I'm just kind of happy that he reads the books. That's enough for me.